President Hu Jintao on Thursday sent a message of congratulations to South Korea's President-elect Lee Myung-Bak for his election victory.

In his message, Hu offered his warm congratulations to Lee on his election as the 17th President of South Korea and expressed his good wishes to him.

Thanks to the joint efforts of both countries, China-South Korean relations have witnessed overall and in-depth development and scored rich achievements since the establishment of diplomatic ties 15 years ago, Hu said.

The development of bilateral ties has brought the two peoples tangible benefits and positively contributed to regional and international peace and development, Hu said.

China and South Korea are two important neighboring nations, Hu said.

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to bilateral relations, and has always given the relationship with South Korea an important place in China's foreign relations, Hu added.

Hu expressed his will to work with Lee to enhance good neighborly and friendly relations between the two countries, expand bilateral cooperation of mutual benefit and strengthen coordination and cooperation on regional and international affairs, so as to upgrade the all-round partnership of cooperation to a higher level and bring more benefits to both peoples and countries.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2007)